#3757 - Linaria purpurea - Purple Toadflax
Spotted growing in an empty lot in the Dunedin CBD as we were running around the secondhand bookstores.
The binomial refers to the colour of the flowers, and the resemblance of the leaves to those of flax (Linum usitatissimum). The origins of the common name are more obscure - I wouldn't say the flower of the common toadflax of the UK resembles a toad, at all.
This particular toadflax is native to Italy, but now widespread and naturalised in some parts of North America and elsewhere. It prefers moist, moderately nutrient-rich soil, spreading readily on stony waste ground and walls, and grown as an ornamental for its attractive, long-lasting flowers which are very attractive to bees.
Poisonous to livestock, and produces at least one interesting antifungal compound.
Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand.
